Paying out will to dead person...

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
What happens to the money from a will that is supposed to go to someone who has died?
The will doesn't state anything about to that persons estate or family - just him?

Q: What happens to the money from a will that is supposed to go to someone who has died?

A: It goes to the dead person's heirs.

It goes to the deceased persons estate. The executor of the deceased persons estate will then have to re-open the estate and divide the new assets according to the final testiment or according to the law if there was no direction for the estate.

Wording a will to give to heir & not estate

Can you word the will to give the money only to single person and not their estate or family? And then what happens if say after a few months while the will is going through probate the heir dies then where does the money go?

Q: Can you word the will to give the money only to single person and not their estate or family?

A: Yes.


Q: And then what happens if say after a few months while the will is going through probate the heir dies then where does the money go?

A: To the person's heirs.


You can control it only so far. And, you do not want to violate the rule against perpetuities (Google) by putting a bunch of conditions on it.

You must have a lawyer draw this up and you need to explain what you want done.

A trust may be a better tool for you.

This is not a do it yourself deal. You don't want to leave your heir a lawsuit.

When willing a person anything, then it becomes part of their estate. What they choose to do with it out of your hands. You can't will someone $5000 and say that the person cannot give it to anyone else. If during probate, a heir dies, then the items are transferred to that persons estate and the estate decides what happens to it.

Basically, you can't say I want to give brother Joe $1000, but if he dies I don't want it to go to his kids.

"A dead hand yieldeth no service."

1 Coke's Litt. 2 b

Provided the will doesn't make stipulations on the heirs surviving. It's certainly common to say things like ... everything goes to my son, if he's living otherwise to be split among my brothers.

FlyingRon said:

Provided the will doesn't make stipulations on the heirs surviving. It's certainly common to say things like ... everything goes to my son, if he's living otherwise to be split among my brothers.

Click to expand...

I think he's wanting to say, everything goes to my son but if he dies before the end of the administration of my estate, then it goes to the home for unwed cats.

The emphasized part above is a violation of the rule against perpetuities.